Suzuki Foundation announces latest scientific research funding

On 18 February 2011, the Suzuki Foundation selected 35 scientific research initiatives to receive fiscal-2010 financial assistance worth a total of ¥55.88 million. The foundation also announced financial support for academic research, bringing its overall fiscal-2010 disbursements to ¥65.3 million.

(1) Financial assistance for scientific research projects in progress

The Suzuki Foundation has decided to support 33 original, advanced scientific research projects that are in progress: four projects on production-related technologies; eight projects on environmental and energy-saving technologies; four projects on measurement-, control-, and analysis-related technologies; eight projects on material-related technologies; five projects on electronics- and information-related technologies; three projects on human engineering and medical technologies; and one project on robot-related technologies. The foundation’s financial assistance for these 33 projects totals ¥39.75 million.

(2) Financial assistance for proposed scientific research projects

As well as supporting scientific research projects that are under way, the Suzuki Foundation selects contemporary problems that it believes need to be resolved, invites proposals for research projects to address them, and selects the most outstanding proposals for funding. It funds each selected project for two years and has selected 10 projects in the past seven years.
For fiscal 2010, the foundation has decided to fund two proposed projects for making cars lighter to protect the environment and save energy. One of the researches is aimed at the replacement of automobile component materials including metals and inorganic glasses by plastic materials “Materials Design of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Coatings that Provide Plastic Materials the Antiscratcing and Weatherproof Properties”. The other research is aimed at the material design of novel polypropylene having plywood structure, leading to rigid and high-impact products with thin thickness．The foundation will disburse a total of ¥16.13 million for these two projects and for the second year of funding for a project that it selected last year.

(3) Other financial assistance and activities

The Suzuki Foundation also conducts a wide range of other activities. Notably, it promotes awareness of research results and further development of research projects by funding symposiums, subsidizing transportation and accommodation for Japanese researchers attending overseas academic meetings, subsidizing programs in Japan for researchers from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and publishing a foundation newsletter. The foundation’s fiscal-2010 support for such activities totals ¥9.42 million.

About the Suzuki Foundation

Suzuki Motor Corporation established the Suzuki Foundation in March 1980 to mark its 60th anniversary. Thus far, the foundation has supported 1,144 scientific research projects with financial assistance worth a total of ¥1.33 billion. The latest round of financial assistance for scientific research is the 31st to be announced by the foundation.

Overview of the Suzuki Foundation

Chairman:

Osamu Suzuki (Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation)

Location:

Tokyo, Japan

Total assets:

¥4.73 billion (as of end of March 2010)

Goals:

The Suzuki Foundation aims to contribute to the development of the Japanese machinery industry and to the national welfare by supporting scientific research related to the production and use of machinery and by disseminating the fruits of such research to the general public.